You can say that with a ‘high degree of certainty.’ He didn’t even say otherwise. He simply said theirs are hard to beat. It’s possible that if you’d experienced Okalhoma the way he may have, you might say the same thing.
His comment was ’their facilities and academics are hard to beat.’ He may have been impressed by their academic ‘support’ staff and tutors. Even by the chicas who take tests for their players.